"My name is Silas C., but when I left what used ter be home ter me, I war n't willin' ter have strangers call me by the name thet belonged ter those I loved, so I 've been Cale to all the rest fer a good many years now. "'Brother Si,'says she, 'you loved my sister; won't you tell me what ter do?' "'What's up?' says I, fer I could n't collect myself she come on me so sudden, an' I knew by her looks she meant business. Then she blurted it all out: "'George Jackson has asked me to marry him--an' father wants me to. I don't know whether I ought ter.' She wound up with a sigh. "'Why not?' says I, fer I war n't master enough of my feelin's to say any more. "'Well, I don't know exactly--only, I 'm afraid I don't love him as I 'd ought ter.'" Cale moved uneasily. He leaned his elbows on his knees, resting his chin in the palms of his hands. He continued in a lower voice: "May the Lord forgive me, but I thought I was doin' fer the best to argue her inter thinkin' she loved him, an' if she did n't, then she would after marriage. An' I'd ought 'er known better! I ain't never fergiven myself fer meddlin'. "George Jackson was nigh ter me, although he was born in Canady an' I in New England. His farm was a border one, just over the line. There was about three hundred acres of extra good farmin' land and some heavy timber. My five acres was on the border, too, an' many a time we 've clasped hands over the old stone wall on our boundary, an' I 've said, laughin': 'Blood 's thicker 'n water, boy!' "I used ter work fer him a lot. He was his own master for he was an orphan; an' I had mother, an' thet kinder drew us closer, fer mother mothered him. There war n't a likelier young feller anywheres round. He was ten years younger 'n me, an' I 'd half brought him up in the farmin' line--proud of him, too, if I do say it. "There war n't a gal in our village or out of it fer a good many miles round thet had n't tried fer him but Happy--an' she was the only one he 'd ever had eyes fer. Thet's the way it mostly goes in life. He was two years younger 'n she was--an' smart! He 'd been through the Academy, an' would have made something of himself besides a farmer if he had n't got bewitched, like most men sometimes in their lives, by a gal.